Review of SWISS flight Warsaw → Zurich in Economy

Hello!

And here it is,

Another retro(ish)-report of SWISS perfection (you'll find below whether I'm actually not sarcastic here), the Airbus A220-300 flight from Warsaw to Zurich. The flight was a part of my another trip to Venice to enjoy the Italian Alps (for skiing). When I saw reasonable price for this flight operated by SWISS, I didn't even bother choosing a direct flight. My last experience with LX incentivised me to pick them again.

There's not too much content in this report, but I'm sure you'll find it entertaining anyway :)

Enjoy the reading. 

And here's the routing for todays report. The flight back from VCE to WAW was via Frankfurt and operated by Lufthansa. So the whole itinerary was booked on lh.com website.

Flight details

Flight number: LX1343
Route: Warsaw Chopin - Zurich Kloten (and then to Venice Marco Polo continued on A220-100)
Flight date: 1st February 2019 (0945-1150)
Scheduled flight time: 2:05
Aircraft model: Airbus A220-300 (ex. Bombardier CS300)
Aircraft registration: HB-JCP
Seating configuration: CY145 (3 rows of business on this flight)
Aircraft age (at the time of flight): 0.5 years
Seat number: 4D
Departure/arrival gates: both at the jet bridge

This is a sheer beauty ❤️ In every inch.

The experience at the airport, was uneventful. Everything went smooth, ranging from the check in at Lufthansa Group counters, security and then boarding. Our jet, HB-JCP arrived from Zurich pretty much on time, however our boarding was slightly delayed and also after the boarding was completed we still waited a bit at the gate. No info about the reason for that from the crew, but I assume, they wanted to avoid congestion at Zurich, as 11ish is a busy time for arrivals there.

Initial impression & the cabin

Once you enter the aircraft, you're immediately overwhelmed by the warmness and luxury combined, which together with a smiling crew makes a good start of your trip.
 
As I'm pretty sure, lots of you are aware: there no words exist to describe how amazing the SWISS's A220 cabin is. Perfect from the front to the back, or from the bottom to the top, absolutely topnotch. Why am I so enthusiastic about the cabin? It's meticulously designed and attention was paid to every detail, and the cabin of SWISS's is actually what differentiates LX from other European carriers, I believe. Some time ago I saw a SWISS ad saying something like: "These days, airlines have small differences between each other, but these differences make a big difference". And I think what the ad said is actually the quintessence of SWISS.

Cabin features that, for me, make it the best short haul European cabin are, mostly:
1. Beautiful seats by ZIM, with ample legroom in the front rows, generous width, brown leather upholstery, headrests with beige antimacassars, coat hooks, adequately big tray table and chrome details adding some magical zing
2. The cabin is spacious and airy with huge windows, high ceiling and big overhead bins
3. Additional warmth is added by the beige cabin divider (curtain). Normally, I don't like those curtains as they simply look bad, but this one… is just as it should be.
4. Some Swiss accents scattered around the cabin, such as the front and back bulkheads
5. Little, but cute overhead monitors

The cabin is simply fresh, modern and amazingly beautiful and comfortable. Nothing more to say here! Time for some pictures :) 

The back of the seat, the extra place for press and magazines is appreciated.

The cabin "from the front", as you can see - really spacious and bright for a regional jet.

And a photo from the back. I hope you can spot the nice, beige cabin divider which is made of leather and some other material combined.

My seat's headrest. Even though not adjustable, it's very comfortable anyway! They even thought about details like contrastive seam and their logo embossed into the antimacassar. Perfect ?

Simple, but clever and beautiful design of the rear bulkhead.

The flight

Okay, I admit that the cabin is gorgeous but enough talking about it. Let's move to the flight itself. We departed southbound, slightly late, but the overhead monitors showed estimated arrival time into ZRH within schedule anyway. After takeoff, we made a slight right turn and then a simple, straight route to Zurich.

Approximately 15 mins after takeoff, we reached our cruising altitude, the divider between business and economy was closed and I was left in row 4 with a curtain just in front of my nose. This is quite an annoying thing in all those European carriers that use those curtain dividers… but at least the huge legroom in row 4 and fast disembarkement compensate for this nuisance.

The on board service started soon as well. All passengers (or GUESTS as LX puts it) in Economy were offered a complimentary croissant and drinks from the trolley. I opted for a glass of apple juice. 

The croissant was tasty yet very cold (like from the fridge). Anyway, I find it a nice and enjoyable snack on this 1:45 flight. The choice of drinks was also wide.

The refreshment service was finished with a remarkable SWISS chocolate which is, indeed, one of the best chocolates I've ever had.

Once the on board service, I decided to check the lavatory. It was spacious and clean. Good job. Also, as I was at the back of the aircraft, I asked one of the crew members about a product from their duty free catalogue. The crew normally doesn't make a round with a duty free trolley on SWISS flights so all the shopping must be made "on demand". I was interested in a Caran d'Ache pen which looked really nice in the magazine but I wanted to see it in the flesh. However, the crew member (who was actually really unkind - but she was the only one not in the best mood, fortunately), told me the duty free trolley is closed in such a way that she can't open it… what a pity! So I ended up not buying the pen on board and I had to buy it online once I got back home. And I'll spoil it, the pen is amazing, I absolutely fell in love with it. Below is a photo of it.

It's a bit expensive but definitely worth its price. They have lots of colours to chose from. This one is however a limited edition, made from recycled Nespresso capsules.

The remaining time of the flight was uneventful with smooth flying conditions across Europe. I kept enjoying the views outside the window and inside the cabin. I also read some articles in the comprehensive SWISS magazine, checking the routing, ETA and our speed occasionally, on the overhead monitors. Overall, I found the entertainment on this flight sufficient but it would definitely be a benefit to have a WiFi and power outlets on board.

Some cloudy skies over Europe this morning.

After 1 hours and 20 mins of flying we started our descent into Zurich. The crew distributed leaflets which advertised a SWISS game. If you write a review about the today's flight, you have a chance of winning double return ticket with LX. I decided to try my luck, but unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to get the tickets :(

Shortly before landing, the crew gave information about our arrival gate and departure gates for connecting flights, much appreciated! It turned out, our next flight to Venice will depart from a bus gate at ZRH.

Landing in Zurich on time. The disembarkement through the air bridge was also a breeze and we soon found ourselves in a crowded Zurich terminal.

Some older SWISS machines parked at gates A in ZRH.

Connecting flight to venice

I know, I shouldn't perhaps do that, but I will only mention a few words about my next flight on this itinerary, namely ZRH-VCE on SWISS A220-100. Even though boarding for this LX1662 flight was from the bottom level at ZRH (bus gates) and this area is quite small, the whole procedure was quick and efficient and we were ready for departure on time. However, as we started taxiing, we suddenly stopped and turned onto another remote stand. It turned out, there was a technical problem, as there was no connection between the flight deck and the cabin (or something like that?). I really appreciate, we were kept informed both by the crew and the captain about the progress of the issue being solved. After about 40 mins of waiting we were ready for departure again :) They even got some more fuel to fly faster on our cruising altitude and reduce the delay. As a result, we only arrived 35 mins late in VCE. With hindsight, I have to say, they sorted out the problem very well (plus I felt well informed and really safe).

The flight itself was nice, and the crew stayed happy and helpful throughout the whole journey. The catering consisted of only a small bottle of Henniez water and of course a SWISS chocolate but even this small refreshment was absolutely enough for me. 

Got myself an emergency row seat for this flight. But to be fair, the legroom is the same as in the front rows (like 4-5 etc.) and you get a better engine view from the front.

Inflight. We didn't get any clear skies throughout the duration of flight…

Thanks for reading this report,

Matthevv.

Next week, I think it's time for a review of LOT ERJ-190 from Warsaw to London City in Economy (June 2019), so stay alert. Plus, I booked a flight to Vienna in the beginning of August on Wizz air A321neo (hopefully they don't change it to regular A321) so I might be the first one with W6 A21N review on flight-report :)